Philippe Goubeault : « More than twenty percent of our total reserves are managed through a process based on non-financial criteria »

What is the status of SRI in your investment policy?

Responsible finance has become an essential part of our investment policy. As a result, all our request for proposals now include an SRI part.

What percentage of your assets is invested in SRI?

At the present time, more than twenty percent of our total reserves (approximately 55 billion euros) are managed through a process based on non-financial criteria.

How your allocation has changed in recent years in this field?

We have been an important player in the world of responsible investment for many years. Indeed, our first experience in this field dates back to 2006 and has steadily gained momentum, in particular through social welfare groups (“groupes paritaires de protection sociale or GPS”) such as Ag2r La Mondiale, Humanis, Malakoff Médéric and Agrica, which manage a quota of our financial reserves.

Are you going to increase your assets invested in green bonds? Through funds or direct investment ?

We indirectly hold green bonds in our portfolios. However, I would like to remind you that we do not manage directly our financial reserves. Indeed, we have delegated the management of these reserves to our GPS partners (up to 39 billion euros), the balance being managed by external asset management companies that we have selected.

What is your view regarding this asset class? What is your opinion regarding the risk of diversification due to a limited number of issuers? Do you exclude certain sectors such as Oil and Gas?

It is an attractive asset class for investors despite the limited number of issuers. However, we do not currently have a specific investment policy in this area.

Swiss Re has decided to move from traditional benchmarks to responsible benchmarks. What are your thoughts about this approach ?

For the time being, unlike Swiss Re, we use traditional benchmarks, but in the years to come, a reflection could be conducted in this direction.

Do you have any "responsible" steps planned in the future?

Yes, with social partners, we are currently considering to define a homogeneity of our SRI approach through the different GPS systems with whom we work.